Effects of human diabetic serum on the in vitro development of mouse preimplantation embryos

The effects of sera from different types of human diabetes (type I with and without ketoacidosis; type II treated with insulin or Daonil or untreated) on the in vitro development of early preimplantation mouse embryos were studied. In controls, 20% of blastocysts failed to develop successfully when grown for 72 h in RPMI medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 50% nondiabetic human serum. In experiments using 50% diabetic serum, the highest embryotoxic effect was found in type‐I diabetes with and without ketoacidosis: The percents of undeveloped embryos were 66 and 58, respectively. In type‐II diabetes, embryotoxic effects were found among all studied types: The percent of undeveloped blastocysts varied from 36% in insulin‐treated type‐II diabetes to 44% in untreated type‐II diabetes. A high correlation was found between the number of undeveloped embryos and the blood concentrations of metabolic diabetic factors: glucose (r = .53–.64 in type‐I diabetes), B‐HOB (r = .7–.77 in type‐II diabetes untreated or treated with Daonil), acetoacetate (r = .66 in insulin‐treated type‐II diabetes), and HbA_1c (r = .89 in insulin‐treated type‐II diabetes or .99 in Daonil‐treated type‐II diabetes). A concentration of 80% serum was embryotoxic when obtained from nondiabetic or from diabetic human. The possible role of diabetic metabolic factors in causing increased risk of spontaneous abortions and infertility among diabetic women is discussed.